Best dance studio

Editor’s Note: You chose the Best of the Best. The Macomb Daily’s annual Reader’s Choice contest filled our offices with opinions galore on your favorite everything in and around Macomb County. In a month-long time frame, readers shared their responses to The Macomb Daily’s questionnaire ballot, posted online and published several times in previous issues. Several categories were covered, from food and drink to services, your best places to buy great stuff and more.

Below is one of the many success stories chosen from the final list of winners. For the full listing of winners in each category click on SPECIAL SECTIONS at www.macombdaily.com Special Sections.

By JOHN HETZLER

For Digital First Media

Need a change of tempo?

Then try the Knapp School of Dance.

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“I just find it a very soothing place to go to,” said Bernie Knapp, the owner of the studio located on Hayes Road in Warren.

“You do forget about other things going on in your life,” Knapp said. “When you hear the music and the children, you don’t find any grumpy people. They’re happy to be here.”

Dancing can soothe the soul.

Knapp believes that, and students ages 3 to 80 agree. Knapp School of Dance won the award for best dance studio in The Macomb Daily’s 2013 Best of the Best reader survey.

Knapp started her business more than 30 years ago, and the studio continues to thrive. (She also teaches classes out of the Warren Community Center.)

Her son, Ken, and her daughter, Jennifer, help her, and that contributes to the family atmosphere.

Knapp said most teachers began as students, often as young as 3 years old. “I know everyone really well. They’re like family.”

Knapp tries to keep current with the latest trends. ”You can’t be stagnant,” she said, and in recent years she’s added classes for hip-hop and other dances.

But Knapp said ballet remains her most popular class, with some students starting as early as 2-1/2 years old.

“The parents really want the children to do something positive,” Knapp said of ballet’s enduring popularity. “They know it’s going to teach them discipline, courage and confidence. Just good things.”

Those good things stick. Knapp said that every summer she has two or three former students return from college and ask to perform in the annual recital.

“They say they just miss the studio,” Knapp said. “They have so much fun and learn so much. They say they didn’t realize how much fun they had at that time.”

Dance can be a lifelong pursuit. Knapp teaches a tap dance class for seniors, with some students in their 80s.

“They are good, too,” she said.

The Knapp School of Dance has a reduced schedule of classes in the summer, but the studio will be back in full swing at the start of the school year in September.

“I’ve always been at my business,” Knapp said. “I’ve answered all the phone calls and done everything personally. I take a real personal interest in my business.

“I just trying to treat everyone equally, whether they are in a competition or a special class. Everyone is the same. I try to treat them like a family member.”